Brown welcomes Haiti debt write-off

The Prime Minister said the powerful economic bloc had recognised that a “nation covered in rubble must not also be covered in debt”.

The move was confirmed over the weekend at a summit of Finance Ministers in Canada, attended by Chancellor Alistair Darling.

Many countries including the UK have already signalled they will not be pursuing money that is owed by Haiti – said to be $890m or 570m.

But charities and campaigning groups had been urging the G7 – which includes the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada as well as the UK – to make a joint commitment.

In a statement, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said: “G7 will cancel all Haiti bilateral debt.”

Mr Brown later said: “It must be right that a nation buried in rubble must not also be buried in debt.

“The UK has already cancelled all debts owed to it by Haiti and I strongly welcome today’s G7 commitment to forgive Haiti’s remaining multilateral debt.

“We will work with others to make sure this is delivered.”

January’s magnitude 7.0 tremor has killed more than 200,000 people and left more than one million people in need of aid.

Even before the earthquake hit, Haiti was rated as the western hemisphere’s poorest nation.

Last year, international lenders cancelled about $1.2bn – 700m – of the Caribbean state’s debt owed to various organisations including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the US government,.

Oxfam has also urged the writing off of the outstanding $890m that Haiti still owes.